Joshua Gunter / The Plain DealerAnthony Parker (18) delivered the biggest shot of the season opener, as his 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring gave the Cavaliers a five-point lead against Boston late in the fourth quarter and elicited excited reactions from Anderson Varejao and J.J. Hickson Wednesday night.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- This is not a basketball Kingdom anymore.

No powder floats in the air on the billboard-sized banner across the street, like stardust descending on Cleveland. No one strikes a crucifixion pose on it with outstretched arms.

No one man, not even in basketball, a sport in which the importance of the individual was magnified here until all proportion was lost and the part became bigger than the whole, will dominate the civic landscape again the way LeBron James did.

The Witness banner is gone and so is the man it hailed. James' defection to Miami was seen in prime time on ESPN, the lapdog network, just as he wished. James is a commodity to ESPN. After "The Decision," the network is a megaphone for him, almost as much as is a Nike commercial.

In place of the sorry spectacle we witnessed in the spring and summer is a new banner. It was not put up until Wednesday afternoon after gale-force winds hampered workmen earlier. On it is a silhouette of the city's skyline. Sponsored by Sherwin-Williams, a Cleveland company that has been here almost a century and a half, the new banner is a reminder of when Clevelanders defined themselves by the things they produced, instead of letting fickle sports celebrities set the limits of their self-esteem.

Wednesday night, The Q was again the place where roars rose until the air crackled. After a 95-87 victory over the Boston Celtics, for the 75th time in the last 83 regular-season home games, victory confetti fell from the rafters.

It was not entirely unexpected, because the aging Celtics were in the second game of a back-to-back set. Still, it seemed that the only trace of the "All In" season would have been Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq was with the Cavaliers a year ago, promising a "ring for the King."

Joshua Gunter / The Plain DealerAfter he gathered in a loose ball, Cavaliers guard Ramon Sessions signals for a timeout as Kevin Garnett hovers in the fourth quarter Wednesday night at The Q.

The Cavs didn't get the ring, couldn't keep the self-proclaimed King, and Wednesday they saw O'Neal, one of the few players in the wine and gold to acquit himself with honor in the springtime, wearing a Celtics jersey.

The Celtics were here for the first game last season, too. Also for the last game. They stunted the start of that season with a victory. Later, James' indifference assured the end of an epoch.

Before the opener began, new Cavs coach Byron Scott, who had awakened before 4 a.m., promised the fans, not victory, but that his team would play hard every night.

In an arena in which Mike Brown's Cavs had quit their last time on the floor, it had special resonance. No dreams are realized without commitment to their pursuit.

This is not the same green menace anymore.

Ironically, the same Celtics ensured that James, his talents and South Beach will have to content themselves with, at best, an 81-1 record by beating Miami Tuesday night in Boston. Veteran Celtics coach Doc Rivers said fans in downtown Cleveland approached him before the game, shook his hand, and thanked him.

"I don't know what that means," said Rivers.

Yes, he does. It was appreciation for one night's comeuppance for the Heat. It was the new ABM Treaty. Anybody But Miami.

This is not the same J.J. Hickson.

An afterthought in last season's offense, Hickson got his baskets then because his defender was usually the man who double-teamed Shaq. But too often, Hickson was hampered by lapses in focus. His go-to move was to fly to the rim, making dunks and snuffs that became YouTube cult classics. He has always had more promise than its realization.

Wednesday, he started claiming his potential. After a strong, 10-point first quarter, he was on the floor in the fourth quarter, when he was seldom trusted in the past. In an 84-84 tie in the last three minutes and change, Anderson Varejao outran the Celtics for the rebound of Paul Pierce's missed jumper and got the ball to Hickson, who got it to the basket in a flash. It was the last of his 21 points. The Cavs were never headed after that.

This is a new time.

Six Cavaliers were in double figures. But maybe the biggest shot was Anthony Parker's beat-the-clock 3-pointer on the possession after Hickson's lay-up for an 89-84 lead. It was hotly disputed by Rivers, who said Parker's shot, made after taking Hickson's inbounds pass, took "the longest second in the history of the NBA."

It was a very long second. But the Cavs and their fans had waited a very long time, through the spring, the summer, and into the fall for a break. This morning, the Cavs can look down in the Eastern Conference standings on the Miami Heat, albeit by only a half-game.

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